October 12 is the 285th day of the year (286th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 80 days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- Children’s Day (Brazil)
- Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8):
- Columbus Day (Honduras)
- Descubrimiento de América (Mexico)
- Día de la Hispanidad or Fiesta Nacional de España, also Armed Forces Day (Spain)
- Día de la Raza (El Salvador, Uruguay)
- Día de la Resistencia Indígena, “Day of Indigenous Resistance” (Venezuela)
- Día de las Américas (Belize)
- Día de las Culturas, “Day of the Cultures” (Costa Rica)
- Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural, “Day of respect for cultural diversity” (Argentina)
- Discovery Day (The Bahamas, Colombia)
- Feast for Life of Aleister Crowley, celebrated as “Crowleymas” (Thelema)
- Fiesta Nacional de España (Spain)
- Independence Day (Equatorial Guinea), celebrates the independence of Equatorial Guinea from Spain in 1968.
- UN Spanish Language Day (United Nations)
History
In 539 BC, The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon.
In 633, Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by the British under Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of Gwynedd.
In 1113, The first documented mention under the Latin name Varadinum (“vár” means fortress in Hungarian) and the celebration day of the city Oradea while its bishopric was founded during the 11th century by King Ladislaus I of Hungary
In 1216, King John of England loses his crown jewels in The Wash, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge.
In 1279, Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon.
In 1398, The Treaty of Salynas is signed between Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Teutonic Knights, who received Samogitia.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus‘s expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached India.
In 1582, Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
In 1654, The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
In 1692, The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips.
In 1748, British and Spanish naval forces engage at the Battle of Havana during the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
In 1773, America’s first insane asylum opens for ‘Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds’ in Virginia. The First insane person committed was Zachariah Mallory as he became the first patient of Virginia’s Publick Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds. They Came To Take Him Away, Ha-Haaa!
In 1792 First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York CIty.
In 1793, The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
In 1799, Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse was the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute, from an altitude of 900 meters.
In 1810, First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
In 1822, Peter I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor of the Brazil.
In 1823, Charles Macintosh of Scotland sells the first raincoat.
In 1868, August Horch, German engineer and automobile pioneer, founder of Audi was born (d. 1951)
In 1870, Robert E. Lee, American general (b. 1807) dies shortly after 9 a.m. on October 12, 1870, in Lexington, Virginia, from the effects of pneumonia. He was an American soldier known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. The son of Revolutionary War officer Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, and married Mary Custis.
When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the country to remain intact and despite an offer of a senior Union command. During the first year of the Civil War, Lee served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Once he took command of the main field army in 1862 he soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning most of his battles, all against far superior Union armies. Lee’s strategic foresight was more questionable, and both of his major offensives into Union territory ended in defeat. Lee’s aggressive tactics, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years. Union General Ulysses S. Grant‘s campaigns bore down on the Confederacy in 1864 and 1865, and despite inflicting heavy casualties, Lee was unable to turn the war’s tide. He surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. By this time, Lee had assumed supreme command of the remaining Southern armies; other Confederate forces swiftly capitulated after his surrender. Lee rejected the proposal of a sustained insurgency against the Union and called for reconciliation between the two sides.
In 1871, Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) enacted by British rule in India, which named over 160 local communities ‘Criminal Tribes‘, i.e. hereditary criminals. Repealed in 1949, after Independence of India.
In 1892, The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools, as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage.
In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the “Executive Mansion” to the White House.
In 1915, World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium
In 1917, World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single day loss of life in New Zealand history.
In 1918, A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.
In 1928, An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children’s Hospital, Boston
In 1933, The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice
In 1942, World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack.
In 1944, World War II: The Liberation of Athens from the German invaders.
In 1945, World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
In 1946, Joseph Stilwell, American general (b. 1883) dies after surgery for stomach cancer on October 12, 1946 at the Presidio of San Francisco, while still on active duty. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered on the Pacific Ocean, and a cenotaph was placed at the West Point Cemetery. Among his military decorations are the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit degree of Commander, the Bronze Star, and the Combat Infantryman Badge (this last award was given to him as he was dying). He was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. His caustic personality was reflected in the nickname “Vinegar Joe”.
Although distrustful of his Allies, Stilwell showed himself to be a capable and daring tactician in the field but a lack of resources meant he was continually forced to improvise. He famously differed as to strategy, ground troops versus air power, with his subordinate, Claire Chennault, who had the ear of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. General George Marshall acknowledged he had given General Stilwell “one of the most difficult” assignments of any theater commander.
In 1953, “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York City
In 1959, At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
In 1959, R.C., “Poison Ivy” by The Coasters peaked at #7 on the pop singles chart.
In 1960, Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe
In 1960, Television viewers in Japan unexpectedly witness the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japan Socialist Party, when he is stabbed and killed during a live broadcast.
In 1962, Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages
In 1964, The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits
In 1967, Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives are futile because of North Vietnam‘s opposition
In 1968, Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain
In 1969, A mysterious phone caller urges DJ Russ Gibb, at Detroit underground radio station WKNR, to listen to the Beatles’ “Revolution #9” backwards. He does and listeners think they hear a voice saying, “Turn me on, dead man.” Thus the “Paul is Dead” craze approaches Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast as a great media hoax.
In 1970, Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
In 1979, The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
In 1979, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published.
In 1983, Japan‘s former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail.
In 1984, Brighton hotel bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. Thatcher escapes but the bomb kills five people and wounds 31.
In 1986, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People’s Republic of China
In 1988, Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
In 1988, Birchandra Manu massacre in Tripura, India
In 1988, Jaffna University Helidrop: Commandos of Indian Peace Keeping Force raided the Jaffna University campus to capture the LTTE chief and walked into a trap.
In 1992, 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died.
In 1997, Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
In 1991, Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic’s Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll.
In 1994, NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere).
In 1999, Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
In 1999, The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia
In 2000, The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
In 2002, Terrorists detonate bombs in the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
In 2002, More than 25 years after his death, Elvis Presley is once again the King. RCA Records’ “Elv1s 30 No. 1 Hits” boys at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 500,325 units sold. This marks the first Elvis album to ever debut at the top of the U.S. chart.
In 2005, The second Chinese human spaceflight Shenzhou 6 launched carrying Fèi Jùnlóng and Niè Hǎishèng for five days in orbit.
In 2013, Fifty-one people are killed after a truck veers off a cliff in La Convención Province in Peru.
In 2014, Super- cyclone Hudhud in Visakhapatnam, major loss occurs
In 2017, The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO and is immediately followed by Israel.
In 2018, Princess Eugenie marries Jack Brooksbank at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. She is a member of the British royal family, and the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is tenth in line of succession to the British throne, after her elder sister, Princess Beatrice of York.
In 2019, Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, killing 10 and forcing the evacuation of one million people.
In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna.
In 2019, The Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans, which is under construction, collapses, killing two and injuring 20.
